In installing plumbing lines, it is important to secure fresh water supply lines in position against movement at the time of installing the roughed-in plumbing. This not only prevents movement of the lines when pouring light weight concrete around them or installing drywall along the wall studs, but also prevents subsequent movement and pipe rattling when operating a faucet to which the lines are connected.
To achieve this end, it has been found desirable in the past to anchor the fresh water supply lines to a drain or vent pipe by means of a relatively complicated clamping structure such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,385,545 to Patton and U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,025 to Roll. As should be appreciated, these devices include a number of clamps which are secured together by means of separate fasteners, such as screws. This makes for an inconvenient and time consuming installation procedure. Further, the screws may be easily lost or misplaced, further frustrating attempts to achieve proper installation in a short period of time.
Because of the extensive time and resulting inconvenience often necessitated by utilizing bracket arrangements similar to those disclosed in the Patton and Roll patents, many plumbers simply shim and tape lines in position. While effective for the short term, such an approach is not durable and will often subsequently allow pipe movement resulting in rattling and clanging pipes within the wall as the fresh water faucet is turned on and off.
Therefore, a need is identified for an improved fastener for securing water supply lines in position. The fastener would be of simple, inexpensive construction and would be easily installed by the plumber without the use of tools or separate additional connectors. Moreover, the fasteners would be modular in design and, thus, adaptable for use for securing several water supply lines to a single pipe, if desired.